Misplaced in Time and Space
by Titus Tatius
Summary: An Inquisitorial Black Ship finds itself lost in the past with a radical Ordo Xenos inquisitor onboard.  Mass Effect characters have arrived!
1. Dramatis Personae and Prologue

**_Author's note: A little idea that popped into my head while having a lie-in. I've not much of an idea where this is going beyond the first few chapters. I guess I'll have to wait and see._**

**_Disclaimer thing: I do not own the warhammer 40k __intellectual property_**_** nor the Mass Effect intellectual property, the only things I can lay claim to are the non-canon characters.**  
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**Dramatis Personae**

**Inquisition**

**Ordo Xenos**

Inquisitor Tigurius Clavero - Radical Inquisitor of the Xeno Hybris philosophy.

Veteran Sergeant Ander Deniel - Head of a squad of Inquisitorial Storm-troopers assigned to Tigurius, known as the Tigers.

Corporal Oroitz Yann - 2IC of the Tigers. A skilled demolitions expert and shows an aptitude for stealth.

Trooper Valentín Matej - Point man of the Tigers.

Trooper Ean Pherick - Marksman within the Tigers

Trooper Nazariy Vlad - CQC specialist of the Tigers.

**Crew of the _Addo Perditio_**

Ship Master Cissero Arnam - Captain of the _Addo Perditio_

Commander Castor Mortimer - XO of the _Addo Perditio_

**Deathwatch**

Brother-Sergeant Barkiel Uller of the Salamanders -Head of the Deathwatch squad assigned to Tigurius

Tech-marine Castro Lesnar of the White Consuls - Deathwatch techmarine, assists in the enginarium of the Addo Perditio.

Codicier Deiad Raziel of the Storm Wardens - Resident Deathwatch Librarian.

Brother Amareo Aurio of the Red Hunters - Deathwatch marine, uses a variety of rare ammunitions.

Brother Kayvaan Xander of the Angels of Fire - Deathwatch anti-vehicular specialist.

**Clade Vanus**

Mortem Keth - Infocyte co-opted to Tigurius.

**Order of the Cleansing Water**

Sister Melitta Charmion - Surgeon in charge of the Medicae deck.

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**Prologue**

The year is 995.M41, and the black ship _Addo Perditio_ slips through the warp. Its Gellar fields are holding strong against the probing of the foul denizens of the warp. The ship is a matt black colour, with decoration picked out in a dark grey. The noble ship lacks the usual armoured prow of Imperial Warships, instead possessing a blunted nose, with three torpedo tubes on either side. Along its ventral and dorsal edges are a series of three lance batteries, long range laser weapons capable of crippling many vessels before they enter the range of the main cannon batteries along the port and starboard sides. Point defence turrets traverse, ever alert thanks to their hard-wired servitor gunners. The command tower stands tall, like a monumental cathedral spire, jutting out 100 metres into the void. The 4 outlets for the powerful plasma engines large enough to swallow many smaller craft whole. The total length of the vessel nearing a kilometre long, crewed by thousands of convicts and their drivers, the _Addo Perditio_ is truly a awe-inspiring vessel. It goes without running lights, illuminated only by the sickly glow of the immaterium.

On board is the Ordo Xenos Inquisitor Tigurius Clavero, en-route to the naval world of Bakka to join the fleet being assembled to combat the approaching Hive Fleet Jormungandr. There the ship will come under the nominal command of Admiral Vortigern Hanroth along side a vast selection of void-going craft, from the noble silhouettes of Space Marine Battle Barges to the forked prows of the xeno Demiurg commerce vessels, a rag-tag alliance of imperials and xenos, putting aside their differences to fight for the survival of the eastern fringe of the galaxy.

Unfortunately for the crew and passengers of the _Addo Perditio_, even in the 41st millennium, warp travel is a precarious thing. Entire fleets have been thought lost in the empyrean, only to arrive at their destinations centuries after they left, feeling as though it had only been weeks since they entered the warp. Rarely fleets have been known to arrive at their destination before they have left their departure point. These are the fortunate survivors of the perils of the warp, sometimes a fleet will be rediscovered as a compacted part of a travelling spacehulk. The _Addo Perditio_ was particularly unfortunate, as though they left real-space in the year 995.M41, they would arrive at their destination 38,810 years too early. In 185.M03, or as it was known to humans then, the year 2185 AD.


	2. Chapter 1

**_A.N. I've got more of an idea where this is headed now._**

_El Historio - I actually read your Warhammer/Dragon Age crossover a few days before I thought of this. I think it was partly that which set me thinking of the consequences of Imperial time/dimension travel._

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**Chapter 1**

The Lictor struggled franticly, letting loose a shrill roar. It was held in a high-gravity chamber, restrained by the oldest of forces. Its own mass acting against it, pressing it to the floor. The chamber was at the very tip of the ventral ridge, large adamantium bulkheads closed to space, also held down by the high gravity field, should the gravity generators loose power and the lector be unrestrained, the air pressure of the room was enough to draw open the bulkhead doors, venting all atmosphere. Through the armaglas window Inquisitor Tigurius Clavero watched, occasionally looking to the various holo-projectors, checking readings on the lictor's bodily functions.

The intraship com crackled to life and the ship's second in command, Commander Castor Mortimer announced; "All hands prepare for realspace translation."

As the inquisitor paused in his work he felt the slight pressure on his mind that signals warp travel diminish. He continued his work until he noticed something was lacking. Thinking further he realised that it was the dulled roars of the lictor, who up to then had been a rather vocal prisoner. Looking through the window once more he saw a surprising sight. The lictor was cowering on the floor and no longer trying to struggle. It made quiet whimpering noises, not unlike a wounded grox. While he was pondering this strange phenomena his personal commbead chirped in his ear, and the XO was heard again, this time sounding distinctly more worried.

"Inquisitor, please attend to the bridge immediately."

Sending a single click through his commbead to indicate he had received the message, Tigurius locked down the datafeeds from the lictor chamber and left the control room, followed as ever by his data-recorder cherub. Tilting his head in greeting to the Brother-Marine standing watch on the chamber he headed for one of the lift shafts running the height of the control tower.

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The scene on the bridge moments earlier was far from the calm of the inquisitor's work area. As trusted crewmen and servitors moved around the grand theatre of the bridge, Ship Master Cissero Arnam issued the order to return to real space and Commander Mortimer leant over the vox-thief; "All hands prepare for realspace translation," as he turned back to his master Mortimer commented, "The warp currents have favoured us, we made excellent time."

"Indeed, we were not expected at Bakka for another week." was the reply from the Ship-Master, sitting wired into his command-throne. The bridge crew paused in their activities as the slight sensation of warp travel lessened.

As they should have been hailed the moment they translated into the system, and they hadn't, the ship-master sat up in his chair, saying, "Someone, confirm our location." There was a flurry of activity from one of the lower tiers of the bridge, and a sub-lieutenant reported back,

"My lord, the navigational logic engine is having trouble. It says some stars are not in the correct positions for where the majority of the stars say we should be."

"Navigator, what is your input?"

"The warp is… wrong. Calmer some how. Smooth. And I fear that I can no longer detect the Astronomican." Said the navigator, with a distinctly puzzled tone of voice.

Suddenly the communications officer interrupted the conversation, saying, "Sire, the astropathic choir are all experiencing massive brain haemorrhaging! We've lost eight of them already!"

"The inquisitor needs to be informed of this. Commander, bring this to his attention."

Once more Commander Mortimer leant over the vox-thief, "Inquisitor, please attend to the bridge immediately."

The Navigator's voice came over the vox again, "I would like the input of the brother-librarian, Ship-Master; perhaps he has knowledge that may aid my understanding of the strange nature of the Aether."

"Very well, commander, summon Codicier Raziel. Lieutenant, how are the last of the astropathic choir doing?"

The lieutenant responded immediately, "Sire, the last two have entered a deep comatose state." At this the Ship-master sighed, they were now in an unknown area of space, perhaps even beyond the halo stars, out of the reach of the Astronomican and without an astropathic choir to send a distress signal. The inquisitor was going to be far from pleased.

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"So let me just get this clear in my mind. We're in unknown space, without astropaths, and our navigator can't navigate any more? Any one else have anything to contribute?" The inquisitor was taking it surprisingly well it seemed the Commander Mortimer. The senior officers and passengers were in the Ship-master parlour, a large nahlwood panelled room, beneath the bridge. Accessed by a lift behind the command throne, it was decorated in the high imperial style, with what looked like a large window on one wall. In actual fact it was a large pict-screen, which defaulted to a view of the Jovian shipyards where the _Addo Perditio_ was first built, almost a millennium ago.

The large table in the centre of the room had carefully disguised holo-projectors built into the silver and gold filigree that twisted its way around the table, spiralling inwards to the large golden I in the centre of the table. In attendance was the Inquisitor himself, his cherub floating around behind him, to his left sat the ship-master, with Commander Mortimer standing at his shoulder, and opposite the inquisitor sat the head of the medicae deck, Sister Melitta Charmion, who was regarding the cherub with distaste. Cherubim are the most advanced of all servitors, a living body vat grown by the Adeptus Biologis, fitted with a small anti-grav unit and wings, cherubs are regarded as symbols of purity, however few know that the original cherubim were lobotomised children under the age of 6, and as such even the vat grown specimens are regarded with disgust by those that do know their origin. The cherub, noticing Sister Charmion responded as it's programming dictated, pouting at her and fluttering in a little circle. Cherubs are usually programmed to behave in a childlike manner, and are bound to their owners by a Mind Impulse Uplink device, allowing their owner to see what they see and issue orders over distances. The final filled seat was taken by Mortem Keth, representative of the Officio Assassinorum and skilled infocyte of Clade Vanus. Standing at one end of the table was Codicier Raziel, his power armour the dull black of the Deathwatch, save for the left arm, painted bright silver, and the right pauldron painted a light grey trim around a dark grey background, bearing the blue shield and white thunderbolt of the Storm Wardens, his psychic hood still the bright blue of a librarian, it's presence the only indicator of the other-worldly powers at his command.

The lift doors opened and everyone turned to acknowledge the arrivals, Brother-Sergeant Uller and Veteran Sergeant Ander Deniel, the brother-sergeant's armour much like the Cidicier's but for the lack of a psychic hood and the right pauldron being green trimmed with a metallic blue background and a white drake's head upon it, the heraldry of the Salamanders. Veteran Sergeant Deniel was a much less imposing figure in comparison to the 7 foot tall space marine, being just shy of 6 foot and wearing black fatigues with a red I on the left breast rather than the suit of servo-assisted power armour. At their arrival the last member of the meeting appeared on the pict-screen, the augmetic eyes of Tech-marine Lesnar glaring down at the table from the large screen, his tentacle like mechandrites repairing some form of power conduit. The Librarian cleared his throat, indicating his wish to speak first.

"Inquisitor, I can confirm the navigator's observation that the warp is indeed far calmer than I have ever seen it, and the presence of the dark gods seems greatly lessened. I must also say that the shadow of Hive Fleet Jormungandr is lacking. I attempted the Emperor's Tarot," The librarian paused, seemingly gathering his thoughts, but he had always harboured a sense for the dramatic, "and they did not respond. As the cards are psyco-actively attuned to the Emperor, I can only guess that we are too far from Holy Terra for His Will to reach us. This phenomena has never before been known, ships have been reportedly lost in the halo stars and followed the Emperor's tarot back to the light of the astronomican. I was unsure what conclusion to draw from this."

As the librarian finished his report, Sister Charmion hummed in a thoughtful manner, "Perhaps here may lay the reason for the distress to our astropaths? They are soul-bound to Him on Earth, and if they are beyond even the slightest presence of Him, it could effectively cause sudden hypertension within their blood vessels, causing the cerebrovascular symptoms seen."

At this the inquisitor leaned forwards slightly, the cherub cocking its head to one side and putting on a thoughtful expression. After a short pause the inquisitor said; "That seems a valid explanation, though it does present us with another quandary, the logic engines say we are in all probability somewhere near the ghoul stars, though there is some uncertainty due to the spectrum of emissions of identifiable stars being slightly different from what the engine predicted. There are also several altogether new star systems, which is odd, considering they are the ones nearest supernova. I shall leave it to Tech-Marine Lesnar to explain his thoughts on the subject."

"Thank you Inquisitor. I believe the only logical explanation to be that we have travelled to an unknown time in the past. We must be careful, if this is during the Dark Age of Technology then though this is a huge opportunity to acquire lost STCs, we should not overly influence events. If we change things then for all we know, we may ultimately cause the destruction of humanity."

Though the several previous speakers had been using too arcane terms for him to fathom, the Tech-Marine was speaking sense to commander Mortimer. "I have heard certain theories on time-travel," said Mortimer, neglecting to mention they were all from century old holo-dramas he had used to watch while studying as an officer-cadet, "and if what the tech-marine says is true then the slightest of action can have huge consequences, killing a single hab-rodent may lead to any one of our grandfathers not being born."

"Very… aptly put Commander," Ship-Master Cissero Arnam was never quite sure about his XO, he was a brilliant leader of men and always scored very highly on the counter-boarder exercises, but sometimes Arnam had the sneaking feeling that the Commander was not taking things as seriously as the situation demanded. However, all this talk of time-travel had set the Ship-Master thinking,  
"So in all likelihood, it's not that we're beyond the Astronomican, but that the Astronomican has yet to exist?"

At this the Librarian nodded. "Yes, hence the reason for the Emperor's tarot not working. The cards are attuned to the Emperor as he is or was, or perhaps will be, as of M41. At the moment, whenever now is, he may still be hiding his true identity. Guiding humanity from the shadows."

"Well, enough theories, in our time there was much experimenting with using the warp to travel through time, and if the greatest minds of the Adeptus Astropathica, Navis Nobilite and Adeptus Mechanicum cannot manage it, I do not think we have much chance." As the inquisitor paused to let his words sink in his cherub flew over to the control panel for the holo-projector arrays and brought up a display of the long range auspex results.

"These are the long range auspex results, I think the best bet of finding out when exactly we are is to contact humanity. Unless they have yet to leave Terra, in which case there isn't much we can do. Now then, the augurs show a system just over 7 light years away, which shows signs of technology used to create a human-breathable atmosphere; I think that is our nearest hope. The navigator has informed me it will take us just under 2 days to reach it, as though the warp is calm, he has to be more focused due to navigating without the astronomican. He described it as being "Like driving a ground-car at night with very little light"; the destination is the largest moon of the 4th planet, a gas giant. We may have to make planetfall outside of the artificial atmosphere, due to there being some sort of energy reading, not dissimilar to a very, very large refractor shield. Sergeant Deniel, I want you and the rest of the Tigers to do extra void training, we don't want our first contact to embarrass us. Tech-Marine, we shall be taking the Stormraven, please see that it is fuelled and supplied by the time we reach the system. I think that concludes this meeting." As he finished the inquisitor nodded to those assembled and strode for the lift. His cherub dropped down to the table, skipped across the surface, then leapt into flight again, flying lazily after its master.

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**_P.S. Anyone have an inkling where they're headed? It's in the Mass Effect universe._**


	3. Chapter 2

**_AN: I've actually written a further 1,000 or so words, but I couldn't see a suitable place to break it off in the near future, so that's forming part of the next chapter._**

_El Historio: I was trying to write according to the stuff taught to me a few years ago when I still did creative writing in school, and though it works when hand written, it's less clear when typed. So I've tried implementing your tip, and I think you're right._

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**Chapter 2  
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"Commander, we're refuelled and ready to go. Just this time try not to smash up the hanger bay this time, eh?"

"Ha, sure Joker. Like you weren't a little bit envious of the whole "flying out of a cave as it fills with lava" moment. Surely that's worthy of some of the old Earth movies you watch."

"Shepard, might I remind you that the M-44 Hammerhead is cutting edge Cerberus technology, and not to be used for such "stunts" as you and Mr. Moreau seem to enjoy." At this Joker just snorted and turned back to his console.

"Just ignore it Commander, you sure you won't go down to the AI core for me and just press the off button?" Shepard sighed and shook his head at this.

"Just take us to the Hoplos system, lets see if we can't track down their lost research team. Then we'll see about getting these lunatics the Ilusive Man wants us to gather. Does he really expect me to jump at the chance to recruit a vigilante, a mad professor, an even more insane thousand year old krogan, and some sort of lunatic mass murdering biotic psychopath?"

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Several hours later the sleek, dart like form of the Normandy slipped into orbit over Kopis, running silent as a precaution after detecting the wreckage of a Blue Suns frigate in a decaying orbit with the moon. It briefly dipped in its flight, releasing the Hammerhead to drift down to the planet. At 0.1g, acceleration wasn't much, but with no atmosphere there was no true terminal velocity. Miranda looked up from the sensor station,

"Shepard! There's some form of large ship down there! It's unlike anything I've seen before. The shape's all wrong. By these scans the thickness of its armour is nearer a turian main battle tank than any shuttles I know of. It's near double the size of this tank." Jacob turned in his seat at the gunnery station, looking over Miranda's shoulder.

"Is that writing on the side? Can you get a clearer picture?" Miranda fiddled with the controls for a moment before the image resolved itself to showing a large black aircraft, with a tall silver I on what appeared to be a boarding ramp. Jacob let out a long whistle at the image, "That thing's certainly military, but what idiot puts the ramp on the front? You'd be running into oncoming fire. Wait, there's writing on the side, in earth English! It just says _Falcon_. Maybe that's the name of it? And are those some sort of gun rigs? They're huge! And a missile launcher over the door? With some sort of multiple barrelled weapons on a turret. That seems like overkill to me!"

Shepard looked over his shoulder at them, "Well, you know what they say, there's no kill like overkill!"

"Shepard, I'm not picking up any sign of element zero in the vehicle, it must have some pretty damn powerful engines to lift it, if it's used on worlds with higher gravities." While Miranda was watching the data streaming across a console, Jacob was captivated by the imposing craft.

"Shit, Commander, land us away from that thing, its turret has started to move and track us!" As impressed as Jacob was with the weapons on it, he didn't want a demonstration just yet. As Shepard circled the dig-site and landed the three of them were afforded a strangely disturbing scene of destruction, even if it was just bits of geth. A few were chewed in half by some form of vicious saw. Many were blown apart, pairs of geth legs standing on the barren surface without any upper body. A small number seemed unharmed, but upon closer inspection they seemed to have been hit by some form of energy weapon that bypassed their shields. Like a macabre rockery several sets of geth legs were standing in a rough line, torsos bisected with such a sharp blade they provided an intricate cross-section of geth internal workings. The most impressive sight of all was a fallen colossus, which had oversized five digit hand holds dug up its neck, and the head hanging off by its last coolant cable. As they dismounted from the Hammerhead Shepard ordered it to return to the Normandy, there were no enemies left that needed the firepower of the M-44 to take down. As far as Shepard could see there were no enemies left at all.

They advanced to the excavation in a wide wedge formation, 5 metres spacing between each of them. Jacob had his shotgun at the ready, covering the left side of the wedge. Shepard was at the head with his sub-machine gun HUD displaying incendiary ammo readied. Miranda covered right, her heavy pistol tracking from side to side searching for a target. Thankfully the _Falcon_ was landed below a ridge, presumably out of line of fire from whatever geth forces there were. As they entered the tunnel and the false atmosphere they came across the bodies of several Blue Suns mercs, however the weapons damage was characteristic of geth pulse rifles, not the owners of the mysterious gunship. As they advanced deeper into the moon they heard a loud discussion being carried out in very strangely accented English.

"So these are the Men of Iron? And they started the Age of Strife? They're pathetic." This voice was a mocking tone, in an accent not dissimilar to the accent of earth central Asians. It also seemed oddly distorted, similarly to quarian speech through their helmets.

"Their weapons are unlike anything I've seen before, even those of xenos. They pack a respectable punch." This voice was measured and calm, with an accent like that of the lower Mediterranean people. As Shepard crept forwards, raising his fist to halt his companions, he was able to see the speakers. There were three armoured giants, the one who had just spoken had a high neck guard on his armour, most of the armour black except for the right shoulder guard, which was a dark metallic blue, almost black, with an animals head on. The most alarming thing about this individual though was above the armour, his bald head with his pitch black skin in combination with his glowing red eyes, like embers on a dark night.

"Heh, I can see the scars they dug into your armour. You must be getting slow Sergeant." The voice was at once powerful but also cheerful. The accent Germanic. This speaker wore similar armour, but with a blue pointed helmet on, a large fan of armour behind his helmet, also blue, and the lower leg guards were continued up to cover the knees. His right shoulder guard bore a shield with lightning bolt design. By process of elimination the last one must have been the one to speak first. His armour was lacking the high collar of the first giant, with a bright red shoulder guard, on which was a white skull with a black I, very similar to the one seen on the landing craft outside He wore a snub-nosed black helmet with glowing green eyes..

As Shepard watched the three giants banter back and forth, he failed to notice the shorter man appearing out of the shadows next to him. This man wore a form-fitting undersuit, with plates of ceramic armour attached, not that different from Shepard's own N7 armour, except for the golden I emblazoned on the chest piece. His weapons were strange and arcane. A pair of gauntlets with armoured cables connecting them to a small backpack, and a large block on the back of each hand. The tips of four blades could be seen protruding from slots in the blocks, and there was a long tube attached to the upper surface of the blocks. The strange man silently leant over Shepard's shoulder, near his ear, and said,

"Don't just stand there dithering, come and join us." This man had an altogether strange accent. A meshing of Native American and upper class British. As the words left his mouth what looked like a small child flew over the heads of the armoured giants, giggling and singing about how their guests had arrived. Faster than Shepard would have believed possible with their armour, two of the giants turned and raised their weapons at him, seemingly chambering rounds by operating bolts. The red shouldered one a large rifle with scope attached, the red-eyed one raised a weapon similar to the large rifle, but with a second barrel that seemed to have a small flame burning below it. The one with the blue hood and helmet turned, removed his helmet and smiled, revealing a perfectly normal, if rather large, head. What was unnerving about this one though was the way his eyes flared blue and the hood construction crackled with sparks.

Shepard looked rather shocked, then threw his SMG to the floor and raised his hands. At the sound of the clattering of bolts Jacob and Miranda ran around the corner, weapons raised. They stopped as they saw Shepard at gunpoint, and aimed their guns at the least armoured target, the man with the golden I emblem. This strange man just seemed amused by the situation.

"It seems we have something of a standoff. What a pity I dislike standoffs." As he finished speaking the smiling giant's eyes glowed brighter again and he moved so fast that the next thing Jacob and Miranda knew they were disarmed and hanging from the giant's hands by their collars. A faint blue mist hung in the air where he had moved so fast, writhing and turning as it dissipated. The small flying child flew down from the cave roof and giggled as it fluttered around the two as they struggled against their captor. The strange man seemed to maintain a straight face, but his eyes betrayed his amusement. When next he spoke he was clearly enjoying himself,

"Now, now, we can't have you blundering around waving those things about. You might hurt yourselves. I think we might have got off on the wrong foot, how about you? Release them please Deiad." The blue hooded one grinned at his captors, lowered them to the ground and bowed before them. The inquisitor nodded to himself and turned to address the newcomers, pleased to see they seemed fully human.

"I think I should introduce myself, I am Inquisitor Tigurius Clavero, servant of the Ordo Xenos. This is my cherub," he indicated the small child as it flew over to him. Much to the surprise of Shepard's team, the cherub was the one to continue the introductions, fluttering over to each person as it introduced them in a childlike voice.

"This is Deiad Raziel," Here it flew to the giant who was now putting back on his beaked blue helmet. "This is Sergeant Barkiel Uller," This time flying over to the red-eyed one, who nodded in greeting to the humans. "And this is Amareo Aurio the disdainful." As it said this it fluttered to the one with the red shoulder guard, who grunted and swatted at the cherub. "Now, please, tell us your names!" Shepard was rather taken aback by the sudden friendliness of the "inquisitor", especially considering he had been at gunpoint moments ago.

"Oh, well… I'm Commander Shepard and these are operatives Taylor and Lawson." All of a sudden Joker came through over the radio,

"Commander, you need to hear this!"

Shepard reached to his earpiece, "I'm here Joker, we've just met the owners of that gunship."

"Yeah, well that's not the only thing they own it seems! A massive ship's just come out from behind the gas giant; EDI thinks it was close enough to the atmosphere to avoid her detection. It's bigger than any council dreadnought. And the shields on this thing! We can't get a reading through them, they're not like any kinetic barriers I've ever seen."

"Easy there Joker, they're friendly," Shepard glanced to the Inquisitor, "I hope."

The inquisitor shrugged at this, "If you are we are. We just don't like weapons pointed at us." As he finished he gave a short glare to the operatives. "I noticed your shuttle left you behind, we can return you to your ship if you like."

Shepard frowned, "It's a nice offer but I don't think your shuttle will fit in our hanger bay."

The inquisitor just laughed, "Do come and visit, we have something we'd like your help with."

Shepard didn't think he had much choice, looking at the weaponry arrayed against him. He nodded and the group started to head for the surface. As they neared the edge of the false atmosphere Shepard replaced his helmet, the operatives raised and sealed their hoods against the cold of space, checking the seals on their masks. The red eyed giant removed a large black helmet from his belt at attached it to his armour with a hiss of pressurised air. The inquisitor took a helmet with a long neck guard and attached breather mask from his backpack, checking the air hose was in place down his back before sealing himself in. The cherub ignited some sort of field around itself, that shimmered in the vacuum of the surface.

As they left the cave a geth hunter uncloaked in front of them, and as Shepard and his team raised their weapons the inquisitor shouted "Mine!" and ran forwards, long claws sliding from his gauntlets, crackling with contained lightning. The inquisitor rolled to the side as a shotgun blast clipped his shoulder. He righted himself and uppercut his claws on his left hand up, under where the ribcage on a living being would be, then there was a slight cracking noise and the afterimages of a line of red light danced on Shepard's vision, piercing the Geth and losing focus as it travelled far above the ground. The inquisitor kicked the geth off his claws, raised his arm, pointed at its flashlight head as it fell to the ground and fired again, this beam of light passing through the geth to leave a small dot of glass on the ground some distance away. Shepard was rather impressed with the weaponry, especially the directed energy weapon. He opened up his omnitool and sent the footage from his helmet-cam to EDI and Joker. EDI so she could try and discern where their technology came from, and Joker because it had enough finesse involved for Joker to be suitably impressed.

"A bit showy don't you think?" Raziel sounded a bit put out.

"What after you climbed that large walker and beheaded it?" While the inquisitor was speaking the cherub was fluttering from side to side, sticking its tongue out at the librarian. Sergeant Uller sighed and shook his head. The walk back to the _Falcon_ was relatively uneventful. The Imperials striding ahead in silence, Shepard's team hanging back, unsure how to respond to their new found companions, and slightly unnerved by the cherub fluttering along behind them. Shepard contacted the Normandy, telling them that his team would be travelling to their companion's ship for now.

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_**What's this? Shepard and the cerberus operative taken hostage in all but name? *que dramatic music* Or perhaps not.**_


End file.
